Story Inspires Song. Song Inspires Story.

Music lovers in the pagan community have asked me about the genesis of my songs and stories. As a child I was always fascinated by a good story. I would find myself happily lost in whatever world was created by the story that I was reading or watching. I read everything that I could, from educational books about Ancient Egypt, Greece, and beyond, to Stephen King horror stories, and Miss Marple’s murder mysteries. 

In 6^th grade Social Studies class, we did a section on world mythologies. This unlocked an entire new cache of worlds that I could happily immerse myself in. Epic stories of Gods and Goddesses, brave mortal men and women, and fantastical magical beasts leapt from the page and galloped through my vivid imagination.

Little did I know then that my love of story would someday lead me to carve out a successful music career, with a fanbase spanning the entire globe. One song in particular has had a huge impact across traditions and cultures. That song is Warrior Queen.

A Story Inspires a Song

It was a hot day in late summer 2003. To escape the scorching heat, I had joined some female musicians in an air-conditioned studio to do a bit of jamming. I was changing a guitar string, and the drummer and bass player were hashing out a rhythm.  Donna Horn, artist of the artwork on my Lady Moon and I Walk with the Goddess CD’s, had just switched from playing her sitar to noodling around on a guitar. She was strumming away, switching between two chords. Those two chords and rhythm cut through the background drum and bass like a knife, and I froze.

I can only imagine the blank look on my face as my consciousness fell away from the room and straight into a story. It was almost as if I were watching a movie that only I could see, complete with beginning, middle and end. I saw the story. The full story. As if someone had just downloaded it directly into my brain. 

I turned to Donna and asked “What was that? Right there? That two-chord thing that you were just playing?” She replied that it was something she had been working on over the past day or two. I said “I think that I have a song for it. Do you mind if I take the riff home and give it a go?”  She was thrilled and told me to go for it. That was the moment that Warrior Queen was born.

A Song Inspires a Story

There are songs that take years to write, songs that are difficult to write, and songs that never get finished. Warrior Queen is not one of those songs. When I got home that day and sat down to write it, both music and lyrics came together in about 20 minutes.  It was not so much that I sat down and wrote a song, but more like the song channeled through me and onto the paper. Complete and whole, in less than a half hour.

Warrior Queen is the story about a Viking Queen who dies on the battlefield. She is tethered to her body in death, watching from above as her soldiers prepare her for the journey home where she will be burned on a funeral pyre, releasing her soul for the next journey beyond. She hovers above the scene, narrating what is happening below, and watching as she is honored by the people of her land as they carry her past in procession. The song ends when she reaches her home and is burned on the pyre.

I released the song in 2004 on my first album, Lady Moon. I have now been performing the Warrior Queen song for eighteen years. To this day, I never fail to get the chills all over my body when I sing it. I get a similar reaction from people all over the world who hear it. This song has a powerful impact on its listeners.

Right after I wrote it, I played it for my mother.  When I finished, with the last note still ringing in the air, she leaned in, wide eyed, and said “I love it!  What’s the story?” I replied “That’s the story, Mom!  She dies!  And they burn her on her pyre. That’s the end of the story.” My mom said “That’s the story of her death. I want to know about her life.”

Over the next dozen years or so, I thought about the Warrior Queen’s story. About the story of her life. I took notes regarding ideas for characters and story lines and compiled them, writing them down by hand in a special journal. And I hoped and dreamed of someday finding the perfect person to help me bring the Warrior Queen’s entire story to life.

A Story and Song Inspire a Book Trilogy

Fate takes a hand in bringing my book idea to life when I am invited to headline the Australian Goddess Conference in October of 2013. I planned on spending a few weeks there, to perform at the conference, and to go on tour with one of my dearest friends and Sister in Song, Wendy Rule, who is also booked to perform.

While at the conference, I meet an authoress by the name of Kaalii Cargill who has written a book called Daughters of Time. I purchase a copy and start reading it on the long journey home. The book is stunning!  I cannot help but think that if I were going to find someone to collaborate with on the Warrior Queen project, she would be my number one choice.

Fast forward to summer of 2014 and the Glastonbury UK Goddess Conference. I step into the market area to set up, and who is the first person that I bump into? You guessed it.  Kaalii Cargill!  It takes no more than one day of us hanging out together to start talking about my book trilogy idea. I hand over my compiled notes, and the Warrior Queen Chronicles book trilogy takes life, with Book One, Tapestry of Dark and Light being released in 2016, Book Two, Tapestry of Strength and Sorrow following in 2019, and Book Three, as yet untitled, with a projected release in 2022.

These books tell of a child of prophecy, born to vanquish a rising darkness. It begins with our Warrior Queen as a young princess, running wild in the forests, practicing swords with the men, and summoning a God to grant a boon. She begins to manifest powers, propelling her on a journey of discovery that reveals her ancestral story going back thousands of years. Her challenge is to learn to dance gracefully with her power, and not be ruled by it. A challenge many women face in real life. 

Will she be successful in her quest? You will have to read the book! Or subscribe to my Patreon Campaign, where I record bi-weekly chapter readings for Patrons only!

And that is an insight into how a story can take on a life of its own, travel the world, and in the process become so much more than just a thought written down on a piece of paper!

My next post, coming up on August 26th, I’ll be sharing ideas about how to bring Warrior Queen energy into your life, complete with instructions for ritual and magic.